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The Dallas Stars spent July 1 focused on re-signing their own players.

Patrick Eaves and Curtis McKenzie both agreed to relatively inexperience extensions with the Stars while other squads were handing out big contracts. "We like what we have and we want to keep moving in that direction," said GM Jim Nill. "We're still open to trades or making changes, but we also want to make sure we stay consistent and build from within." It wouldn't be surprising if the Stars' big addition this summer proves to be Antti Niemi. The team does have cap space left, but it will have some big free agents to deal with over the next couple of years, including Alex Goligoski and Jamie Benn. Jul 2 - 10:20 AM

"I don’t see July 1st being a big day for us," Stars GM Jim Nill said. "We're going to be there and see where the market goes, but from analyzing things and looking at it, I don’t think there’s something there that will be fit for us to start with. Maybe later on we’ll see what happens." Nill has already made a big splash by acquiring the negotiating rights to Antti Niemi and then signing the veteran goaltender. Jul 1 - 9:03 AM

Jeff Reese has been hired as the goaltending coach of the Dallas Stars.

Mike Valley will remain with the organization and serve as the Director of Goaltending Development. Reese will join coach Lindy Ruff's staff for the 2015-16 campaign along with assistant Curt Fraser and James Patrick as well as video coach Kelly Forbes. He has spent the last six seasons as the goaltending coach for the Philadelphia Flyers and will be tasked with getting Kari Lehtonen back on track. Jun 15 - 3:18 PM

Renowned play-by-play man Dave Strader will take his talents Dallas and call the Stars broadcast.

Strader, now 60 years old, has been calling NHL games since 1985 when he spent the first 11 seasons of his NHL play-by-play career with the Detroit Red Wings. Since then, he's called games for the then-Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers, as well as international broadcasts for VERSUS, NBC, ESPN, ABC, and the Winter Olympics. And that's just for NHL hockey. "We are absolutely thrilled to have Dave joining the Stars broadcast team," Stars CEO Jim Lites said. "His broadcasting resume and experience speak for themselves, and we are excited to have him call Stars games for years to come." Daryl "Razor" Reaugh will join Strader as his color analyst, and it will be Reaugh's 20th season for the Stars. Jun 12 - 7:51 PM

Depth Charts

Tyler Seguin, who dealt with a knee injury last season, is now skating without a brace.

Seguin's goal is not to use a brace going forward as he's heard that there's a danger of him becoming reliant on it if he just continues to use the brace. Seguin was using the brace during the 2015 World Championships and still scored nine goals in 10 games.

Jason Spezza was named the top forward at the 2015 World Hockey Championship.

Not only did Spezza win gold with Team Canada, but he also led the entire tournament in scoring with six goals and 14 points. Brent Burns (Team Canada) was named the tournament's best defenseman, while Pekka Rinne (Finland) was named the tournament's top goaltender.

Last season, he won 47.8 percent of his draws and this campaign he is winning 51.2 percent of the time. Eakin leads the Stars with 1,253 total faceoffs. Thanks to him, Jason Spezza and Vernon Fiddler, Dallas ranks eighth in the NHL in faceoff success.

Vernon Fiddler scored a goal and an assist in Friday's 4-2 win over Washington.

Fiddler picked up the primary assist on Colton Sceviour's go-ahead goal in the first period and he scored a goal of his own to extend Dallas' lead to 4-1. The 34-year-old is having a decent season considering the fact that he is a bottom-six defensive forward. Fiddler now has five points in his last four games, and he has 12 goals and 14 assists in 67 games.

"We still have a long time to go here before training camp and the season starts, so I am in no rush," Benn said. "I am going to take it day-by-day, nice and slow. I think the main thing is that I don’t want any setbacks. I am definitely happy with my progress." Benn is already skating while an earlier timetable suggested that wouldn't happen until August. He was dealing with hip problems for the better part of the 2014-15 campaign and still managed to score 35 goals and 87 points in 82 games.

Patrick Sharp said he was shocked when he found out he had been traded to the Dallas Stars.

"I knew it was coming … and it still comes as a shock," Sharp said. "When it actually happens, there are a lot of different things going on: You're trying to take care of your family and friends and your own personal situation. The conversation with Stan was a tough one, just like the one with (coach) Joel Quenneville was."

Dallas Stars and Team France forward Antoine Roussel leads the World Hockey Championship with 34 PIMs through five games.

France unfortunately has just one win during their five games. The rugged forward, who is still pointless in the tournament, had another nice season for the Stars. He posted 13 goals, 25 points, and 148 PIMs through 80 games this past season.

Travis Moen scored a goal and an assist in Saturday's 4-3 overtime win over Nashville.

Moen got the Stars on the board in the second period to tie the game at one and he also added an assist Colton Sceviour's third period goal. The 32-year-old has now scored in back-to-back games for Dallas. He has nine points in 42 games since being acquired from Montreal earlier this season. "He’s an effective player," coach Lindy Ruff said of Moen. "He’s smart, he knows how to play. He gets around the front of the net and he gets rewarded."

The Dallas Stars have re-signed Curtis McKenzie to a two-year contract.

No terms have been announced. The Dallas Stars and Curtis McKenzie are working towards a new contract.The 24-year-old got his first taste of NHL action this season. He posted four goals and five points in 36 games with Dallas, and six goals and 21 points in 31 games with Texas of the AHL.

Valeri Nichushkin was selected to represent Team Russia at the upcoming IIHF World Hockey Championships in the Czech Republic.

He missed most of the season following hip surgery but is a bright young talent the Russians want to see on the ice. Nichushkin makes for a nice sleeper pick in hockey pool drafts next season as he has the potential to register 50-plus points if he can stay healthy.

"I can already feel I have more motion," Hemsky said. "It's just been two months and I know I have a long way to go, but I can feel the difference." He had 11 goals and 32 points in 76 contests last season, which is well below what was expected of him. He noted that he had put a lot of pressure on himself last season, but 2015-16 feels different.

Colton Sceviour scored a goal and an assist in Saturday's 4-3 overtime win over Nashville.

The Stars got some solid production from their bottom-six forwards in this game. Not only did Sceviour have two points but so did Travis Moen. Sceviour picked up the only assist on Moen's second period goal. He then added a goal of his own in the third frame. The 25-year-old has eight goals and 25 points in 68 games this season.

John Klingberg was named to the NHL's All-Rookie Team for the 2014-15 season.

Klingberg was originally selected 131st overall by Dallas in 2010, but led all rookie defenders with 29 assists and 40 points in just 65 games last season. Klingberg also became the first rookie defender in franchise history to record a four-point game on Jan. 31st versus Winnipeg. The 22 year old also ranked third among rookie defenders in average ice time with 21:50.

Jason Demers notched his fifth goal of season and blocked five shots during Monday's 5-3 loss to Calgary.

Demers now has points in consecutive games, it's the third time this season he's had a multi-game point streak. Demers now owns five goals and 26 points to go along with his 78 blocks through 76 games with the Sharks and now Stars this season.

Stars GM Jim Nill thinks his team's young players will benefit from being around two-time Stanley Cup champion Johnny Oduya.

"I grew up in the Detroit organization. To win, you have to know how to win," Nill said. "It's a process. Our core is young, they’re going to be like sponges, they’re going to feed off this." Of course, before signing Oduya to a two-year, $7.5 million contract, Nill acquired his former and once again current teammate, Patrick Sharp, from Chicago. Sharp was part of all three of Chicago's recent Stanley Cup championships and played a key role in the Blackhawks' rise in the salary cap era. With both of them on the roster, Dallas is certainly a much more experienced team.

He recorded 10 assists in 51 games with the big club in 2014-15 and posted five points in 19 AHL contests with Texas. "Jokipakka thinks the game well and has the tools to grow into an extremely dependable player in the NHL," GM Jim Nill said. "Over the last season, he grew leaps and bounds and proved that he could play effectively at this level. We fully expect him to continue that growth and become a big part of our defensive unit in the years to come."

Nemeth had three assists in 22 games with Dallas in 2014-15. He also registered two assists in eight AHL contests. He suffered a severe arm laceration in October and that's the reason he ended up playing so little. The financial terms of his new contract weren't immediately available.

"He gives us a right-handed shot and a little bit of a more physical element, so I think we really have nice balance now in our group of young defensemen," Nill said. In his first full year as a pro, Johns scored four goals, 21 points, and added 44 penalty minutes in 51 games with Chicago's minor league team in Rockford. He also was tied for the AHL lead with a plus-30 rating last season.

Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill believes that his team is lucky to have two number one goaltenders on the roster.

Kari Lehtonen is back for the 2015-16 season, while the team went out and signed Antti Niemi this off-season. We just think having two elite goalies is going to make a big difference for us," said Nill. "We're lucky. It's manageable with our cap situation. We have the flexibility to do that and I really believe it's becoming a two-goalie league. It's hard for one goalie with all of this travel and back-to-backs. The league is so close. If you can win an extra two or three games because you have a rested, healthy, very competitive No. 1 goalie that you can put in any time is going to make a big difference."

Antti Niemi has signed a three-year contract with the Dallas Stars worth an average annual value of $4.5 million.

Niemi was acquired from the Sharks for a seventh-round draft pick. He posted a 31-23-7 record to go with a .914 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average in 61 games with San Jose last season. He is slated to share the crease with Kari Lehtonen in 2015-16.